Full moon appreciation was the name of the game for our most recent 3GenChics adventure. This time we set off for a two-night stay at Crystal Crane Hot Springs near Burns in Eastern Oregon. After dropping the puppy off with Dan and picking up Emma’s friend Claire, we set our course east and spent the day on the road. What should have been a five hour trip turned into an eleven hour day, due to the side trips up north for puppy and Claire, traffic congestion and, of course, the usual round of beverage and potty breaks.

We were happy to be on the road and heading over Mt. Hood, our old stomping grounds. We have missed seeing this glorious mountain and our random day trips up to see her. Dan had mentioned that traffic looked fairly heavy going over the pass (he liked to check the highway cameras for road conditions for us) and warned us to expect it and be careful. As we got on Highway 26, we saw a sign announcing that there was an accident up ahead and to expect delays. We kept on; after all, how long could the delay be?

Well, I’ll tell you how long—as we came upon traffic at a standstill, my GPS let me know that ¼ mile up was a road I could take to detour. I waited fairly patiently, inching along, doing the old zipper merge with other cars, grumbling about the lady in front of me who refused to zipper merge properly when I realized everyone was taking the detour as the highway was actually closed due to the accident. For those of you wondering why we were not googling to find out the who/what/why/where of the accident, just know we sure wanted to but alas, no internet at that point on the mountain. The detour was likely less than ten miles around the horn to get past the accident and back onto Hwy 26 but it was bumper-to-bumper the entire way and slow moving. As we inched along, Mom and I played silly games calling out what kind of vehicles were approaching in the other lane—Jeep! Rover! GMC! We decided against calling out Subaru or Toyota based on the fact that literally every other car is one of those two. Emma and Claire pretended to ignore us but piped up anytime we erupted into hilarity at our own nonsense.

At some point Mom wondered aloud what had happened to the large tractor-trailer carrying cattle that had been about four vehicles ahead of us. As we sat in traffic, my mind wandered through the map, thinking of how the road was coming up ahead of us. We were going to make a right hand turn onto Lolo Pass Rd. from Old Barlow Trail Rd. Then it suddenly occurred to me and I said that the truck had likely gone off the side of the road at that turn and was stuck. Sadly, I was right. As we came around the corner, the tractor-trailer sat at an extremely awkward angle with the backend down off the side of the road and even more sadly we could hear the cattle in the trailer, their hooves scrambling for purchase. This was very hard for me to see and hear…...it was on my mind for the rest of the day. I still wonder how long it took for that whole mess to be cleared and how long those poor cattle had to stay like that.

It was smooth sailing for the rest of the trip once we came back onto Hwy 26. As we came over Mt. Hood and started down the other side onto the Warm Springs Indian Reservation we kept our eyes peeled for herds of wild horses. We lucked out this trip and saw a big bunch of them, very close to the road. Coming into the town of Warm Springs always reminds me of driving into Cripple Creek in Colorado. Driving here, we always reminisce about going to Kah-Nee-Ta, a beautiful resort with a huge hot spring-fed swimming pool and resort. Though it closed for a few years, it is once again open.On this drive, towns and civilization are few and far between, exactly why I love it so much. Our next stop was in Madras, where we grabbed beverages and just cruised on through the next town of Prineville.We were in high desert sage and juniper country by the time the moon began to rise and were in awe at its beauty, especially in this landscape. We were nearly the only folk on the road for hours and hours, spending our time listening to tunes, singing and laughing our tails off plenty.

We arrived at our destination after dark. We checked in, unloaded our goods into the small cabin, put on our suits and headed out to the water. Luckily our cabin was along the edge of the pond so we did not have far to go…...when it is twenty degrees you do not want to wander around too long in just a bathing suit!The pond was about 97 degrees the whole time we were there. This year they had a new feature, the Lobster Pot, set under a windmill where the water was about 107 degrees. We tooled around in the pond, under the big, beautiful full moon for a couple of hours before going back to the cabin to heat up some dinner and settling down for the night.

The next morning, with Claire’s encouragement, we woke up in time to see the sunrise from the pond. It was a lovely surprise that we could also see the moon setting at the same time. It was 13 degrees as we hurried out to the water and plunged in, spending a couple of hours watching the sun rise as the moon set, letting our eyes settle on the beauty of the desert and the sage bushes crystallized in ice. We wandered through the steam rising off the pond, sometimes only seeing a couple of feet in front of us, losing our sense of place and time, feeling completely relaxed and at peace.

After warming up a good bit, Gramma and I would head over to the Lobster Pot; that water was HOT! I’d say we could be in there for about ten minutes, then we would head back over to the hot pond to “cool down.” We would also hop back in the Lobster Pot in order to warm up before trekking back to our cabin. I would get so warm I did not even need to wrap my towel around me, just walking right along in thirteen degrees, in a wet bathing suit. LIKE A LUNATIC. Yes, I know. But, look it, folks—it was amazing.

Crystal Crane offers a basic camp kitchen for guests. We had leftovers from Thanksgiving and had pre-cooked some other stuff so we would mostly only need to heat up food for each meal. I would gather up the offerings for each meal, heat them all up in the oven and bring them back to our small room where the rest of the crew had set up our dining area. Brownies may or may not have been on the menu for breakfast.

Our cabin did not come with a bathroom so we did have to walk a little way to the bathroom building, similar to camping. That was no big deal until 3 AM as it was necessary to get all bundled up before trudging over to tinkle. Gramma and I agreed we would wake each other up to go in pairs if the other needed to go—a little extra safety to ease my mind. What if one slipped on the ice on the way to or fro and froze to death lying out there with no one the wiser? Morbid, I know. It’s hard to be me. Luckily that big, beautiful full moon lit the way and it was not too bad of a trek.

After breakfast on our one full day there, we bundled up to go for a long walk in the desert, seeking a nearby large pond that was partially empty but still had a good bit of water in it that was mostly frozen over. The girls enjoyed fooling around a bit on the ice – that is until it made a very large cracking sound which sent them scurrying back to land. Now before you panic, the pond itself only was not very deep where they did this – likely only a few feet – not enough to drown but certainly enough to scare the bejesus out of them and us, not to mention being very, very cold. It was a beautiful, icy winterland as we walked around the edge of the frozen pond, surrounded by frozen desert sage.

Once we returned to the cabin we needed to warm up, of course, so changed once again into our swim wear and stepped out to the hot pond. After that soak we had a bit of a rest and set off for another walk around the frozen pond. This time the temperature was up around 40 degrees, so we steered clear of the ice on the pond as it was melting around the edges. We did find an area, though, where the water was only a few inches deep and frozen solid so did a little “ice skating” in this area, crunching on ice that was on the edges, twirling a bit and being silly. As we walked on around the other side of the pond, I put my foot on the edge of an icy place to test how firm it was. My foot immediately went through the ice and down I went! Luckily only my leg went in the drink, up to my knee, but it was still enough to scare us all. Mom grabbed my arm to help me up; once we realized it was not the end of me we all had a laugh. It was a cold, wet walk back to the cabin for me. The irony is not lost that it was me that went through after all my admonishing the girls to knock off the tomfoolery.

We heated up food for an early dinner, did our tarot cards and went back out to the hot pond for our evening soak. By this time the glorious moon was up again, the steam was thick and it was about 20 degrees. We soaked for another couple of hours before calling it a night and coming in. That night was an early bedtime for me. I think Gramma and the girls stayed up for a bit yet. In fact, the girls went out by themselves for awhile, thinking to do a late night walk but I hear it did not last long due to the cold.

Our final morning, I awoke early and went out to the pond alone for sunrise and moonset. The whole point of this trip, for me, had been full moon appreciation so I wanted to get as much of that in as possible. The fog was so thick on this morning that I could barely see the moon as it set, but it certainly did not damper my experience. Try as I might, I cannot do justice with words to what it feels like to be out there in that hot water, with the steam and fog rolling around, gazing at the frozen landscape, being one with nature and the earth.

It was not too long before Gramma joined me and then a while later, the girls. We enjoyed our last soak for a couple of hours before heading back to the cabin. On this day I cooked our last breakfast while they got things packed up. We set out kind of early, knowing a long drive was ahead as well as having an intention to stop to harvest juniper berries.

After driving for a couple of hours I found a place where we could pull off the main road, park and harvest juniper berries. I had not planned in advance for this and so we had to make do with surgical gloves and plastic bags I had in the car. I showed Claire how to do it, and we four ladies set to work. I got a nice haul of berries, which I use mostly for tea. But the best part was being out in the sun, working with a tree that I have a spiritual connection with and sharing the experience with my loves.

Once we finished harvesting, it was time to hit the road officially. After a stop in Madras to get some takeout food, we carried on. Coming over Mt. Hood, the roads were a bit icy so drove slow and easy with no problem. We dropped Claire with her folks, picked up Keely from Dan and headed on home to Corvallis.

All in all, it was another epic trip. Taking time to appreciate nature, spend quality time with family and friends is so special. Making time for love and laughter is what it is all about.